There Is No Such Thing as Making PeaceBy: Victor Sharpe American Thinker | Tuesday, August 12, 2008

On September 10th, 1964, the Radio Times,
a British magazine, quoted President Woodrow Wilson that, "Right is
more precious than peace." The great humorist, Jerome K. Jerome,
suggested many years before that, "... we all love peace, but not peace
at any price."

In
actuality, peace is a paradox, especially when applied to the world of
politics. Peace is only a reality between states that are friendly
towards each other. They, after all, do not need to make peace. But the
nation that strives for peace with an enemy can only find it when both
parties have reached sufficient deterrent power to prevent warfare.

The
peaceniks, the liberal groups, the lefties, and all those who shout out
the vacuous phrase, "peace and justice," have turned those once noble
words into soiled and tarnished rags. They have become the very folk
who, through one of life's supreme ironies, shout down other voices -
often attended by their own violent acts - and thus become guilty of
the very behavior they claim to oppose.

The
universities and colleges have become hotbeds of radicalized students
who chant slogans of peace and justice yet howl down invited speakers
with whom they disagree. Free speech withers on today's university
campus while professors, smiling indulgently, espouse the monolithic
message of the Left, which tolerates no disagreement.

That
word, "peace" has permeated the democracies for decades and flowed from
numerous pulpits. But despite untold forests cut down in order to
produce posters, books, banners, placards and learned tomes calling for
peace, there is less peace in the world today and more hypocrites
selling it like snake oil peddlers.

On
the banks of the East River in New York City stands the Temple of
Peace, the huge United Nations building that claims to be its
repository, but which in reality is the ultimate Temple to Hypocrisy.

The
worshippers of Peace are the supreme idealists who never abandon their
dreams even if their naïve acts lead them to inadvertently make tyrants
stronger and create living nightmares for the very victims for whom
they claim they are bringing peace.

There
is no such thing as making peace. If a nation desires peace with its
neighbor, but that neighbor implacably rejects peace, then any imposed
peace process from outside is nothing more than a handmaiden to
futility or worse.

The
peacemaker often creates a catastrophic erosion of security for the
peace loving nation, which because of its peaceful intentions is the
only party that is then leaned upon to make endless and one sided
concessions to a belligerent enemy. Such has been the curse of the
peace process for Israel in its attempts to survive relentless Arab
aggression.

Israel's
leaders have sought peace above all else and considered its attainment
with hostile neighbors as the great panacea. But making peace must
never be the goal of a nation when confronted by enemies who look upon
peace with contempt.

For
almost a century Jews have begged the Arab world to agree to a lasting
peace. They have offered what no other nation or people would dream of
offering to a belligerent. But they have received nothing for the
simple reason that the Muslim Arab is only interested in a limited
ceasefire so as to continue aggression against the Jews as soon as he
feels strong enough.

Deterrence,
unwavering strength and deterrence, is the only salvation for Israel
against the Islamic onslaught just as it is for an equally blinded West
increasingly confronted with Islamic terrorism.

To
cry peace, peace, when there is no peace, as the Jewish prophet,
Jeremiah, taught us long ago, is not an expression of hope but a
foolish and dangerous abrogation of reality. It dulls the mind and the
aspiration of a people who then become lost and blinded under a
veritable veil of deception.

Peace
is impossible for a nation like Israel without its own demonstration of
unassailable military strength and its utter rejection of concessions
to an implacable enemy. The Arab world respects strength. It treats
concessions with complete and utter scorn. It considers overtures of
peace as a sign of weakness and becomes emboldened in its aggression.

When
that enemy is an Arab entity unwilling to make any concession
whatsoever, and when the world expects Israel always to give and the
Arabs always to take, then to continue along that same path to nowhere,
becomes an Israeli self-delusion, leading to worse: Self destruction.

It
is high time for Israel to be making demands upon the Arabs, starting
with territorial concessions from the vast Arab world. Based upon prior
precedents in Muslim history going back to the time of Mohammed and his
dealings with the Queresh tribe in Mecca, the Arabs will never make
peace or accept a Jewish sovereign state in territory they have
previously conquered in the name of Allah.

Thus,
Israel should now begin reclaiming territory it has foolishly given
away since the Oslo "peace" Accords. The Arabs will be forced to accept
such demands if they finally realize that the Jewish state is once
again so overwhelmingly strong militarily, morally and spiritually that
they simply cannot destroy it.

There
is no hope for the Jewish state surviving in the nastiest neighborhood
in the world if it presents itself as inwardly irresolute and unwilling
to engage in war. The Arab adversary should always be fully aware that
Israel is resolute, steadfast and more ready to wage war than agree to
a fraudulent peace.

If
the Arab and Muslim world rejects Israel, it must live with the
consequences of its enmity and become the ultimate loser. A Jewish
state, which no longer seeks to make peace at any price will prosper
and grow. It will also engender respect from both its friends and its
enemies.

As
W.B Yeats once wrote, "... peace under a semblance of peace ... is but
a manifold illusion." And discussing self proclaimed peacemakers, A.N.
Whitehead described their efforts as "...a deliberate aim at Peace,
which very easily passes into its bastard substitute; anesthesia."

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